TW:MENTIONS OF ANIMAL DEATH

Katrina, 6

“Mom… when are we gonna get home…. I’m hungry…” Katrina groans, kicking the seat infront of her.

“Katrina Vivian Marcelo! Do not kick any of my seats unless you want to walk home.” Her mother responds, glaring at her from the rear view mirror.

“But I’m bored!!” Katrina argues back, Katrina is convinced that this is the home run of an answer, how could her mom find anyway around it? Especially on a day so boring and rain filled as the streets. All the ‘rain, rain, go away’ chants in the world couldn’t seem to make it slow.

“You know what… if you’re so bored… count the trees!” Her mother responds with a tone that means finality.

So, Katrina begins to count, taking this job like a militant assignment.

Around 41, Katrina’s eyes begin to feel heavy. As she stumbles towards sleep a tan creature pops from the woods.

The girl, instantly energizes. “BAMBI!” Katrina lifts herself from her car seat, high enough to see through the space in the car seat headrest.

Her mother, immediately hits the breaks as the doe comes barreling out onto the small two lane backroad.

The confused doe fretfully runs closer to the hurling hunk of metal as it attempts to slow.

With a crash the deer, Bambi, is brought to the ground. Sliding slowly towards the middle line of the two lanes as its body loses life.

“BAMBI!” Katrina exclaims after seeing the now dead doe slide closer to her side of the car.”Mommy! YOU KILLED BAMBI! SHES DEAD!” The child screams as sobs and snot forms. “Where’s her mommy?” Katrina asks through her throaty cries.

“Well… I’m sure that deer was older than Bambi, honey, maybe since it’s gone to deer heaven now, it can see it’s mommy again.” Katrina’s mother attempts to comfort. Her own hands still white knuckled to the wheel as they begin to drive off.

“You mean it? So she won’t be alone again ?” Katrina asks looking up at her mother. Katrina decides this is the worse fate of the deer. Being alone, motherless, and probably cold.

“So when I die… I’ll see you again?” Katrina asks again, wiping the tears from her eyes onto her paisley coat.

“Yeah honey, You’ll see me. But even if I leave… it never means you’re alone alright?” Her mother questions , slowly loosening her grip on the wheel as a black Hummer drives by.

“Alright, Mommy.” Katrina responds, a small smile returning back to her face. Katrina lifted herself up from her seat again to look back at the dead creature. Now just a tan blob. Which, even though it sat lonely in the road. Katrina was sure it wasn’t alone.

Keith, 49

Keith finally understood the phrase. “Felt the noose tightening.” Honestly it perfectly described his whole life up to this point. Meetings, meetings and more meetings. He can barely keep track of it all.

For example, he went from memorizing the names of his clients and writing a little notecard about them. ‘Elsa, 38, avid mountain back biker, has a dog named Mischa’, to writing quickly in his notes app ‘Meerkat looking guy- name might start with B’

To remind himself why he did it, he felt the cool leather on his steering wheel. The almighty dollar.

Still glowering, Keith bemoaned having to take the stupid backroads, he bemoaned the rain, the trees, the everything.

Keith noticed up ahead, a small tan blob. As he got closer, braking to an anxious stop, he saw it was just a deer and started back up with caution.

Keith had always found it pretty stupid how pretty stupid deer were. As his car slowly drove ahead he heard a clicking and crunching noise from below the wheels. Bones. Deer must have slid around a bit with this biblical rain.

He frowned as he sped up and away from the creature. It, just like him, was forever alone.